Christopher R Taylor

I do think that Damage Negation is one more tool, albeit a lot like the unitaskers Alton Brown doesn't care for -- they aren't really just for one job, just a solution to a problem nobody really had. In the end, DN probably will be retooled a bit, because its new and not exactly balanced just right.

Yeah Cap has over his long career repeatedly disagreed with and acted against the government. Being mindlessly obedient has never been a core character issue. There may be other examples of core stuff I'm willing to waver on, but that's not a good one. The truth is though, its not so much core character issues that are the problem here. Its the core character issues that make the character work and be who they are. Captain America's core character issue is that he's unfailingly heroic, self-sacrificing, and never gives up no matter what the odds or situation. He's really reluctant to kill, but will and has in the past (particularly in the war), so if he kills someone its not a violation of his core. But if he just gives up because things are too hard or lets someone die because he'd rather not be bothered, that is a serious problem. I'll never understand why movie makers will do a film about a character, using that character's surrounding world setting and support cast, based on that character's existing stories, then do something really different and violating the entire thing. Why didn't you just make a different film with your story? I mean, if someone had made Hancock but instead called it Superman it would have sucked not because the story was bad, but because its not freaking Superman. I think that says more about your moral system than Superman though.

That's the way we always did it, and in that case, the rules didn't say "you cannot do this" which means "its perfectly fine to do so, because this is Hero" I still remember E.Gary Gygax in early Dragon Magazine issues writing article after article lecturing everyone that if they changed anything from the rules, then they weren't playing AD&D any more. Hero takes the opposite approach: anything goes, but be really careful with some things. I remember Gary having arguments with readers about whether or not female dwarves had beards: he insisted they did (thus, no females mentioned in source material -- everyone mistook them for males). And that this was canon and no one may question it. I was never as big a fan of the dude as others ended up being.

Those films would test the patience of a saint.

Its only "lazy" if you presume without possibility of difference of opinoin that there is only one possible way to build this power. You're assuming a single write up in Hero, then arguing anyone who doesn't use that one power you insist upon is not just wrong but lazy because they aren't doing it your way. If you start from the assumption that this is Hero and there's no one way to build anything, that its up to you how you build a character based on the special effects, then its not lazy, its just a different approach to building something in the game with the toolkit. See how Ndreare writes it above? That simulates how the comic book effect works. It does the job, in Hero, quite well. Almost as if there might be other ways of doing it than you insist. There's a word in the dictionary you might want to look up: Calumny.

Its okay to like the film, if you want to. But it seems an awful lot like you didn't really read what anyone wrote before this because everything you brought up has been dealt with like 87 times in the previous 29 pages.

There's nothing wrong with using a different build. Its just in Hero you reason from effect to build, not concept to exact copy. The special effect of him not being hurt very badly is regeneration; you can build that many ways, but the most direct and obvious to me -- the one that best simulates what's been depicted in the comics and movies -- is defenses, because they have the effect that's shown. You can build him differently than I. But I can't even begin to conceive of why someone is being "lazy" for building it differently. This is so easy online; to portray someone you disagree with not just as different, or even incorrect, but as something terrible and insulting. Its not good enough to disagree, so often online we have to abuse and attack. How's that help anyone?

I've always assumed his martial arts over time just became pure offense without bothering with any defense at all. I doubt he feels a lot of pain because he heals so rapidly, and he is almost indestructable. So he plows in face first and just rips stuff up, which is a very effective way of fighting, if you don't mind dying yourself.

Pretty sure Damage Reduction also does that, but I'm not absolutely certain.

Other than "good guy has to escape from prison" stories, I think comics were better off back when they just didn't bother wondering what happened to arrested bad guys. There are too many ethical questions and undesirable ponderables coming from the entire concept.

Yeah for super high regen guys, in a Hero build its defenses that have the special effect "regeneration" for most cases. They just regen so fast the damage is negligible or ignored.

Its also resistant, so the cost is higher for rPD. But because its a random amount. It can absorb up to 6 but most likely will be 3.5, so you get a discount on the price. I think Damage Negation was an unnecessary complication and addition nobody was asking for, but its somewhat useful in some build ideas.

I think DOT, flash attacks, and extra time would have to be reworked for a system that deleted speed as a stat.

Yeah I like Zach Snyder's work, and he's a very skilled director with a fascinating vision, but the wrong choice for Superman's uplifting, inspirational themes and messages.

You don't need to buy microwave popcorn, just regular popcorn and a paper bag. Put 1/3rd cup in a paper lunch sack, throw it in your nuker; takes around 2 minutes but it depends on your microwave, you'll have to experiment a bit to find the sweet spot but then you're set.

If everyone's speed is the same then the only significance of the number is how often people get free recoveries.

I've never fixed Speed, but I have been in games where all the heroes and bad guys tended to be within 1 point of each other, which is pretty much the same thing. Combat goes somewhat more quickly and regimented, because everyone moves more or less at the same time, but you lose a lot of interesting interaction and flexibility. Speed is a good representation of someone's combat training and overall ability fighting. Someone with even 1 more point of speed can be much more effective in combat, and several points makes a huge difference. Taking that away does reduce the interest in combat, and removes a lot of options and flexibility that might otherwise be possible. I don't recommend it particularly as this will tend to remove one of Hero's key distinctives.

Superman was only tolerable as a character because of his moral code which prevented him from crossing certain lines. The indestructable, handsome, all-powerful hero is really unlikable and impossible to relate to unless he specifically limits himself with a code of behavior which is appealing. Drop that and he's a terrifying, marauding alien stomping around on earth, unstoppable and unlikable. He's only heroic by happenstance, not will or design. He may save the kitty from the tree for a little girl or he may burn the tree to a cinder while fighting someone else, frying the little girl, too.

Yeah as I've said many times before, people who don't like Superman loved the new movies. People who were actual fans, hated them. Its like having a James Bond movie where he's a boat rental agent in Hawaii who has adventures saving sharks from nets and its all exciting and epic. People who know nothing about James Bond might love it but fans will yell what the hell was that crap??? You can make the movies Snyder made, just don't make them about established characters with over a half century of lore. Its okay to make some changes for the shift in media and your story. Thor without red hair? OK, meh. Thor without a hammer, from Brazil, who solves crimes with his buddies Rick and TC in a helicopter? No.

Yeah I'd go with a variant on presence attack or persuasion. In fact, I'd expect the player to role play it "what do you mean your plan? You never had a plan!" then boost it with a roll to get the villain to start talking.

One of the parts of stories that is consistently satisfying is watching a hero who seems utterly without options, totally trapped and pinned down... finding a way to triumph anyway. Superman over the decades has done this over and over (Batman, Spider-Man, etc as well): how to defeat the bad guy without murdering them. This is the entire premise of the writing of Stephen Moffat (Dr Who, Sherlock): put your hero into impossible situations and yet they triumph. Man of Steel set out deliberately to have him murder Zod. The writing wrote him into a corner where it seemed like that was his only option, so its more gritty and badass, its EPIC! (sound of pounding music). The negative zone projector is destroyed! He can't banish them! Take that, old Superman stories! A good writer would have come up with a way for Superman to stop Zod and protect the city without murder. A lazy one has him twist the guy's head, despite being unable to stop his head from turning because he's so strong (??).

You could use a transform cosmetic blank film into film with images, but really Lets not get silly

A better approach would be to just pretend none of that awful crap ever happened in the last two Superman films and just fire off Justice League with a different tone. Don't even bother explaining; its just Justice League now. Nobody will miss the other stuff except people who pretty much hate superhero films anyway. Continuity is supposed to be a fun feature, not a set of chains forcing you into specific actions. At most it ought to be a callback or a reference to a previous film, not a forced continuous single story.

That's what I figured, its basically what I am trying to do but with a better budget and more people Maybe once I get everything done I can do a kickstarter for a box set or to launch the full set. Each book takes me a year or more to do though, so it may be a while.

I think DC lives in terror of Cloony/Schumachrer's Batman And Robin being their legacy. So they are striving with everything they have to never have a single moment like the old 60s Batman show.